17 Felony Animal Cruelty Charges in Case Involving 220+ West Seattle Animals
This week, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed 17 felony animal cruelty charges against Matthew Hazelbrook. This is the case announced in October by the Seattle Animal Shelter and Seattle police.
Mr. Hazelbrook’s arraignment, where he’s expected to enter a plea, is scheduled for Nov. 25.
Mr. Hazelbrook posted bond Oct. 16 on the $7,500 bail amount set by a judge. (The King County Jail is separate from our office.)
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office asked a judge to order Mr. Hazelbrook to not possess/own/transport/reside with any animals, not leave the state of Washington, to keep his address up-to-date with the court and have no new law violations. A judge agreed.
If you suspect an animal is being harmed, you can contact the Seattle Animal Shelter at 206–386–7387. The phone number for the King County Regional Animal Shelter is 206–296–7387 (PETS).
In the 24 hours after the arrest was announced, the Seattle Animal Shelter received an outpouring of support from community members, residents and organizations that want to help the animals.
Staff there said the best way to do that is through direct donations to the shelter’s Help the Animals Fund or via the shelter’s Amazon Wish List — though the outpouring of support was so great, the entire Amazon Wishlist was filled twice in two days. Shelter staff updated the list to reflect the needs for the 220-plus animals that were in the shelter’s care. The Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation is also collecting donations for the animals here.
Animal Shelter Director Ann Graves said staff may need the support of its foster community to help care for the animals so as not to strain capacity and resources at the shelter.
“The animals are in a very, very fragile state given the conditions they’ve been in and the stress of being moved to a new location,” Graves said in October. “But they are doing well in our care and our shelter team has done an incredible job in this all-hands-on-deck situation.”
The West Seattle case was discovered in part thanks to a community member who saw something and took action.
“We can’t thank the community member enough who sounded the alarms and, ultimately, helped save the lives of these 222 animals and to the Seattle Police Department for their invaluable assistance on this case.”
Information from the Seattle Animal Shelter’s blog is included in this post. This post is current as of November 19 and is not expected to be updated. For additional case updates, see King County Superior Court file 20–1–07262–8.
